Review: Sex Ed by Kristen Bailey (Best spicy romance novels)

Unfortunately, I’ve been stuck in a huge reading rut since last year and it’s not leaving. Or maybe I just couldn’t find any good book to read. The only book I read recently that took me out of this hell hole of a reading rut for some time is this book.

About the book: ( #1 Best spicy romance novels)

SEX ED as the name suggests is about sex education. It’s basically a story about a girl called Mia and a guy called Ed who both work in the same school together as teachers, and when Mia finds out that her best friend has never done it before with anyone, she takes the initiative to teach him all about it. So, it’s literally a book about Sex(-ing) Ed.

My reading and writing critique of the book: ( #1 Best spicy romance novels)

It’s honestly one of the best romance novels for adults in my opinion, and especially, if you are looking for spicy romance novels that doesn’t make your feminism leave your body because both of the characters are feminist green flags themselves, then this book is for you. That right there actually is what I’m going to focus on.

I had honestly become (still am) sick and tired of having no option of good spicy romance novels because for someone like me who loves reading about smut and erotica, all there is out is just toxic guys with red flags and “good girls” who fall in their trap and ignore the said red flags just because his jawline makes a right angle.

Like, where is the romance? Where is the healthy relationship? Where are my morals?Every time I would have to make a conscious choice of sacrificing one or the other- the urge to read good spicy romance novels because me likeyyyy or losing the honour to call myself a feminist as I read an erotica with all the toxic cliches and red flag abusive relationship BS you would ever see. I even wrote a whole blog post about this and shared how I think eroticas should be written.

AND THEN I CAME ACROSS THIS BOOKAnd, oh my God, it’s like one of the best romance novels for adults and teens I’ve ever come across.

If I had read this before as a teenager, I would have proudly and openly talked about it in front of everyone because it’s the cleanest spicy romance novel that I’ve read so far in my life. Obviously, it has all the dirt but there is also an emotional connection to it as well as actual sex education for any teens who could be reading.

Writing takeaways from this book: ( #1 Best spicy romance novels)

It’s the only erotica that actually fits the right meaning of an erotica novel. It has consent. It focuses on women’s pleasure more than women being objectified as just something that would give pleasure to a man. It does not unnecessarily objectify or sexualise either of the characters’ bodies – and that’s like my favourite point about it!

And….it doesn’t have a bad boy with past childhood trauma and a girl who plays bob the builder and fixes him trope. Or vice versa. In fact, Ed wants to learn about sex, not because he’s an adult and still a virgin but because he wants the woman he is interested in to feel safe and happy. That being said, this steamy romance proves that your characters don’t have to be bad or have a past trauma to make the book have a plot and for the scenes to feel steamy enough. It won’t make your book boring, I promise.

I also feel called to say that this book serves as a perfect example for all the smut and erotica writers because this is how you do it. Please, please read this book…. especially if you are a writer.

Many scenes left me giggling and doing the funny amused eyes. It’s definitely a book that I would like to go back to if I ever want to get into a good mood. More than that, one thing that I felt was special in this book but that didn’t affect the plot or the story is how the book felt more about friendship than about a couple.

It’s fair because the two are work besties and then then they slowly develop their feelings for each other. I feel like the transformation from becoming friends to lovers was slow but it’s supposed to be slow…and embarrassing (because, hello, you have a crush on your best friend, ew).

So, in all fairness, I felt that the book was very realistic but in a good way. I actually loved the subtlety of the character’s romance burning below the heat of their friendship. It felt true.The plot was nicely structured as well. There was tension, there was laughter, there were way too many funny relatable moments, there were stakes…and the steam, of course. Literally everything you could ask for.

The pacing was right on point – not too slow that it would bore you and not rushed either. The diction was simple and more like a stream of consciousness kind. Like I could actually find the distinction in the voice of the character writing their respective chapters which is another thing I found was done remarkably in this book.

Conclusion for one of the best spicy romance novels

Overall, I feel like I would give 5 out of 5 stars to this book! It was an amazing experience to read this book and I hope that more people would write erotica like Kristen Bailey did because she’s done a fantastic job with it!

I would go beyond and say that I liked this book so much that if I could go back in time and give my teenage self a book to read, I would give her this one. It’s honestly that good and would have not just answered my questions about sex but also would have helped me learn some valuable lessons about love, life and the difference between bare minimum and an actual romance.The book was published on 4th of July last year and you can now find it on Amazon. If you read any book soon, let it be this one. Don’t waste your time.